Preamble
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin strives to build an open, just, and strong society where all people have equal rights and equal opportunities to live meaningful, secure lives. We work actively for open, honest, and responsive government accountable to the needs and will of the people. For the complete platform document, download it here.
Our Issues
Voters should pick elected officials, elected officials shouldn’t pick voters.
According to a recent Marquette poll, 72% of Wisconsinites want Fair Maps drawn in 2021, and 62% of Wisconsin Republicans favor it too. 47 out of 72 counties have passed resolutions opposing map manipulation and endorsing Fair Maps; many of the counties were carried by President Trump in 2016
Voting should be as easy and convenient as possible, and in many cases it is. But across the U.S., too many politicians are passing measures making it harder to cast a ballot. The goal is to manipulate political outcomes, and the result is a severely compromised democracy that doesn’t reflect the will of the people. Our democracy works best when all eligible voters can participate and have their voices heard.
Suppression efforts range from the seemingly unobstructive, like voter ID laws and cuts to early voting, to mass purges of voter rolls and systemic disenfranchisement. And long before election cycles even begin, legislators can redraw district lines that determine the weight of your vote. Certain communities are particularly susceptible to suppression and in some cases, outright targeted — people of color, students, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Many states have moved to vote-by-mail in recent years in order to make it more convenient to vote and in the past few months to avoid the possible COVID health risks associated with large crowds at polling places. Yet there remain questions about how many states use it, how mail balloting operates, what its political consequences are, whether the use of mail ballots increases electoral fraud, and how popular it is with voters.
HEALTH & SAFETY
In 2010, the Obama Administration successfully passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This sweeping legislation consists of two separate bills: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Both collectively sought to accomplish two overarching goals: increase the number of American citizens with health insurance coverage and reduce healthcare-related costs affecting both consumers and the federal government.
In 2013, one year before the ACA went into full effect, roughly 15% of the population was uninsured, and as many as 32 million U.S. residents were unable to obtain coverage for different reasons (such as pre-existing conditions). The ACA became effective January 2014; by the end of 2016, the rate of uninsured Americans had dropped to 10.9%. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the ACA would help reduce the national deficit by as much as $100 billion over the next decade.
Soon after the ACA was enacted, Republicans have been relentlessly attacking it from many angles, ultimately weakening it and defunding its provisions. Affordable Healthcare is a fundamental right for all individuals, no one should become destitute in order to afford needed treatment or die because they didn’t get it.
Covid-19 has laid bare many shortcomings in our health care system and has renewed calls for reforms to reduce fragmentation, simplify the byzantine ways in which it is financed, reducing its financial burden and its enormous inequities in access, coverage, utilization and impact. Differences between the parties could not be more stark. While the Trump Administration is currently in court seeking to have the Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional, and he has proposed no plan to take its place should he be successful—despite our country and our health care systems being ravaged by the coronavirus. In sharp contrast, Biden is promoting efforts to improve the ACA and expand coverage through the introduction of a Medicare for All Who Want It approach.
As in all things, knowing History can enhance the understanding of any issue. Looking back through time, the American Dream has included the use of guns as far back as the colonists at Plymouth Rock. It is part of the spirit of the Declaration of Independence as the list of grievances is made against the king. The Constitution addresses the need for gun ownership to defend against the historical oppression by government, with the inclusion of the 2nd Amendment. As the decades have progressed, society has changed, weapon technology has developed and the need for ‘Common Sense Gun Laws’ has become a necessity. The individual will never be able to keep pace with the national ability to develop weaponry and this causes fear within the general population. The strategy to own deadly weapons is one that allows citizens to feel safer, but is it a rational strategy? With this in mind, we must find practical rationale for regulating gun ownership, training and use.
Police & Criminal Justice Reform
The training and equipping of police over the past two decades has seen the growing militarization of the police, and growth in the adoption of a soldier’s “us versus them” mentality. This is wrong and dangerous. President Obama’s “Task Force on 21st Century Policing” provides a sound plan going forward, calling for the transformation of police culture from its current predominant view of “police as warriors” to “police as guardians,” while emphasizing the critical police-community link and the cultivation of mutual respect and trust.
EDUCATION
We all know how important education is to our future. The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution requires that when a state establishes a public school system no child living in that state may be denied equal access to schooling. Educated constituents become productive members of society and understand the needs of their communities. They develop strategies that will effectively develop and use community resources; they will engage in local planning and encourage others to do the same. Education is the key to developing effective and efficient use of natural and human resources locally, nationally, and throughout the world.
Because of the importance of education, we must make sure that our public schools are effective, efficient, and fair. Learn how education systems work in Door County, as well as across the state, country, and world. Become a part of the educational development of your community and work to maximize opportunities for education. Make informed decisions on elections that affect public schools.
U.S. student-loan debt doubled between 2009 and 2019, reaching $1.52 trillion. Student-loan debt now constitutes a national crisis, which has been caused by a combination of falling state funding for college and grant aid, coupled with skyrocketing college costs. The overwhelming majority of student-loan debt is composed of federal loans that cannot be refinanced. It is estimated that more than 900,000 Wisconsinites carry some student loan debt: that’s 21% of Wisconsinites older than 20 years of age. Among Wisconsinites graduating from a public or nonprofit private college in 2018, 64% had student debt, and on average owed $31,705. The Institute of College Access and Success’s 14th annual report …
ENVIRONMENT
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A dairy farm is considered a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) if it has more than 700 cows. There are now 279 CAFOs in Wisconsin. They are seen as a threat to the survival of family farms and have been charged with polluting ground water. Read the award-winning series of articles from the Journal-Sentinel on the state of the family farm and CAFOs in Wisconsin.
ECONOMY
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